Brazil seen by the Portuguese: Representations of the Brazilian people and lands in the 16th century

Abstract

This article aims to analyze elements of the history of Portuguese thought through the lens of visual culture, examining visual representations of geography and indigenous peoples during the 16th century. Ultimately, the article seeks to provide an original approach to the study of Brazil's history through the artistic elements produced in the first century of contact. Adopting a mixed and speculative methodology, we intend to show how the ways of seeing expressed by the Portuguese - in this case through painting and cartography - also reflect a prevailing ideology rooted in epistemological principles developed by the social currents of thought. To achieve the proposed objective, the article begins with an overview of representations of Brazilian indigenous peoples, from the earliest illustrations to the work of Theodore De Bry. In a second step, we analyze three Portuguese paintings that feature indigenous people as significant figures in the composition. Finally, we discuss the role of cartography - and within it, the presence of Brazilian territory - in the Portuguese context. With this, we hope to contribute to the deepening of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of Brazil's past and present history, focusing on the role and possible meanings offered by cultural production.